Application process

All applications for entry to undergraduate study in the UK must be directed through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

Please refer to the UCAS website for further information on key dates and the application process.

This is a very popular programme and we receive many applications. It is important to consider if you will meet the academic entrance requirements before submitting your application. Do contact us if you are unsure if you are predicted to meet these requirements.

We shortlist and interview a significant proportion of our applicants with the aim of recruiting approximately 80 students per year.

To make the process as fair as we can for everyone, candidates who meet some of the shortlisting criteria may be kept 'on hold' in case we are able to offer them an interview later in the process. You will be notified if we are holding your application in order to make a decision later in the process.

The interview days are normally scheduled from November through to March.

What information should I include in my UCAS personal statement?

Be honest about yourself when completing the personal statement. It is acceptable to write about situations in which you did not achieve as much as you hoped, as you can indicate what you have learnt from the experience. If you have previously studied on midwifery or other healthcare courses, but did not complete the programme, please tell us, as this will have been part of your personal development.

Be accurate in relation to your academic qualifications. We will ask to see original certificates or other evidence of these achievements before we offer a place. We recommend that you apply for copies of any lost documents when you apply for the course in case you are offered a place.

Be careful as you complete your form. We receive hundreds of application forms and read them all with due care and attention; however, any application that is incomplete, written in poor English or contains errors will not be considered.

We recommend that you discuss the following:

• reasons for wanting to study midwifery and how you have found out about this career;
• understanding the needs of maternity service users and the midwife's role in meeting these needs;
• skills and attributes that will help you meet the academic and practical demands of the course;
• personal development, employment or voluntary work experience and skills you have that are relevant to a career in midwifery.

What sort of reference should I include?

Your application should be supported by a reference from your most recent educational institution and may also comment on the criteria set out above. If you have not studied recently, you may supply a reference from an employer. We often ask for additional references prior to offering a place.

Interviews are scheduled from November to March/April.

Interviews are conducted online (via Zoom) or on campus. You will have the choice between these options, and you will be considered equally regardless of your choice.

The interview will provide information about your ability to think on your feet, critically appraise information, communicate ideas, and demonstrate that you have thought about some of the issues that are important to the Midwifery profession.

The interview session will last approximately 3 hours on campus or 1 hour online (this includes a welcome presentation). Further information will be provided if you are shortlisted for an interview.

There will be both morning and afternoon interview sessions. If you cannot arrive in time for a morning session, please contact us to request a different date or time.

Candidates who are shortlisted to attend an interview will receive an email with a link to select an online or on-campus interview. Once the date and time is confirmed, you will be sent a notification through UCAS Track. It is important that you confirm your attendance via UCAS Track within 48 hours. Further information will be sent via email once you have confirmed your acceptance.

The offer of a place will be based on your application, your performance during the interview, and the assessment of your interviewer. Please note that we may postpone our decision about your application until later in the interview cycle to ensure a fair and equitable process for all our applicants. We will inform you if this is the case.

If you have a disability that you think will affect your ability to participate in this interview process, please tell us about this when you confirm your intention to attend for the interview.

Please note: We appreciate the date you have been given for your interview may not be suitable and we will do our best to accommodate a change of date request. However, if you HAVE confirmed your attendance via UCAS Track and request a change of date with short notice, it is most likely you will be added to a wait list and we may only be able to offer a new date towards the end of the interview process (February/March).

As a condition of an offer of a place to study midwifery at The University of Manchester, applicants will be asked to complete a health assessment questionnaire.

It is important that you complete this accurately and honestly. The non-declaration of a health condition that affects your ability to demonstrate the proficiencies required by the NMC or which puts you, your colleagues or your clients at risk, may result in the withdrawal of the offer to study with us.

The Occupational Health Team will review your health questionnaire and may contact you to request further information or to have a discussion with you. The aim of this process is to confirm if you are fit for study and for learning in the practice environment, and to ensure that you have any relevant support in place.

Please note that the University welcomes applications from those who have a long-term health condition or disability and will work with you and our Disability Advice and Support Service to identify reasonable adjustments that may enable you to fulfil the requirements of this programme.

If you have any questions or concerns about your fitness to complete our programme, you are encouraged to seek advice from our Occupational Health Team.

Tel: 0161 306 5806
Email: waterlooocchealth@manchester.ac.uk

Blood-borne virus screening

Blood-borne virus screening will need to be undertaken as part of the health screening process. This will involve you having a blood test.

You will be contacted by the Occupational Health Department with further information regarding this. This is compulsory for midwifery students to ensure the safety of themselves, their colleagues and service users.

Essential vaccinations

Because of the nature of the role, which can lead to exposure to various pathogens, midwifery students are expected to be vaccinated against a range of serious infections.

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that from spring 2022, all health and social care workers in England will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID if they have face-to-face contact with service users.

This is a legal, statutory requirement that will come into effect on Friday 1 April 2022, subject to Parliamentary approval.

As a student on our midwifery programme, you will commence your first placements in November. You will therefore need to have had at least your first vaccination by the summer before you commence the programme. Faculty guidance with details about this requirement will be made available soon.

Ongoing engagement with the Occupational Health department

Midwives carry a lot of responsibility for the wellbeing of mothers and babies. This means that studying midwifery, leading to professional registration as a midwife, is very demanding, requiring emotional resilience and physical stamina.

Students have an obligation to look after their own health so as to be able to perform their work effectively without putting mothers and babies at risk. You are expected to engage with the Occupational Health Team when required, to support them to meet NMC requirements.

The Code (NMC, 2018) states that nurses and midwives must "be aware of, and reduce as far as possible, any potential for harm associated with your practice".

To achieve this, you must:

• 19.1: take measures to reduce as far as possible, the likelihood of mistakes, near misses, harm and the effect of harm if it takes place;
• 19.3: keep to and promote recommended practice in relation to controlling & preventing infection;
• 19.4: take all reasonable personal precautions necessary to avoid any potential health risks to colleagues, people receiving care and the public;
• 20.9: maintain the level of health you need to carry out your professional role.

Students will complete their Year 1 placements (community and hospital) in the maternity services of one NHS trust or clinical service.

You will then move to complete your hospital and community placements for Years 2, 3 and 4 in a second NHS trust or clinical service.

Students will be expected to work various shifts in their clinical learning environments including evenings, nights and weekends.

We take account of your term-time address and mode of travel when allocating students to learning environments.

Find out more about our midwifery practice learning.

Eligibility for placements

Please note it is a requirement of our NHS placement providers that all BMidwif students are aged 18 or over at the point that they start their first placement.

All applicants must therefore be 18 or over by 1 November of the year you start the course. If you are still under 18 by 1 November, your application will either be rejected (with a suggestion that you re-apply the following year) or deferred by the Admissions team (subject to passing an interview and meeting all offer conditions).

While our aim is to inform applicants of our decision as soon as possible after the interview, there will be a number of cases when our decision will be delayed, and we will need to wait until ALL interviews have been completed before we are able to update UCAS Track.

In this scenario, we will inform applicants of a potential delay and the timeline of when we expect to be able to confirm our decision.

Events for offer holders

Following the interviews, our intention is to arrange on-campus offer holder events (from March 2022) to give you the opportunity to visit the University of Manchester campus, meet our staff and current students, and see the facilities in the Jean McFarlane Building.

Should the situation change and we are restricted from allowing visitors onto campus, we will host our offer holder events via Zoom.

Reconsideration

The overwhelming majority of unsuccessful applicants are rejected because they do not satisfy our entry requirements, or because the Admissions Tutors does not feel the personal statement fully reflects their interest in midwifery, but requests for reconsideration of a decision can be made.

Requests should be made via email to the Midwifery admissions team (ug.midwifery@manchester.ac.uk).